Zug Island
Zug Island is a heavily industrialized island located at the confluence of the River Rouge and Detroit River and is one of the districts of the Motor City Wasteland. In 2287, the island has become the main base of the Scribes of Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel, as well as the Brotherhood Inquisitors. Background Zug Island was once a marshy peninsula at the mouth of the River Rouge used as a burial ground by Native Americans. As the area started developing in the 1800s, the land became owned by Samuel Zug, a Pennsylvania bookkeeper. In 1888, a 60 ft. wide shipping canal was cut through the south section of Zug's property, a short cut that gave ships a more direct route than the River Rouge's meandering natural course. Three years later, Zug sold the newly-created island to industries who backfilled it and used it as a dumping ground. Soon the island attracted the ironmaking industry. Two blast furnaces were constructed at the beginning of the 20th century to smelt ore mined in Michigan's Upper Peninsula; the two furnaces were said to be the largest of their kind in the world at the time. During this time, Michigan's automotive industry was beginning to catch wind, making the steel produced on Zug Island all the more important. Before the Great War, Zug Island had become saturated with factories and steel mills, many of whom assisted in the war effort as part of America's "Arsenal of Democracy". Because of this, the island was off-limits to the public and had a standing security force of U.S. military personnel. Cameras were strictly forbidden on the island so photographs of the island are rare, except for those taken from afar. This led to a number of conspiracy theories about Zug Island, everything from secret bunkers under the island to alien technology being reverse-engineered in the factories. In 2075, a mysterious, low-pitched droning noise was heard by the citizens of Windsor, Ontario; it would become known as the "Windsor Hum". Early reports determined Zug Island was the source of the Hum (although the reports were later changed). This led to rumors the army was developing a new super-weapon on the island for the fight against the Chinese. Due to it's importance to the American war machine, Zug Island was targeted by multiple nukes during the Great War. It was spared from the worst, thanks to the efforts of Project: Aegis, however the years were not kind to the island. As the derelict factories lay abandoned, industrial waste began seeping into the ground and the nearby river, creating a toxic moat around Zug Island. The Mechanics tried to address the problem, they knew it was poisoning the water and making it dangerous for settlements downriver, but the Mechanics were unable to find a fix. For years, only the most daring scavengers set foot on Zug Island. Scouts for the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel arrived in the Motor City Wasteland in 2214, a few years after the group had claimed the Calculator in Vault 0. The scouts reported factories in Detroit dilapidated, but possibly still able to be operated. This included the factories of Zug Island. However scouts determined it would be no easy task claiming the factories, due to the many raider groups in the city. Plans for expanding into Detroit were shelved. After the destruction of the Calculator, Elder Graham led the remnants of the Midwestern Brotherhood to Detroit in 2282. The group went in full force, ready to fight their way through the rumored raider gangs. Instead, they encountered scavengers. The Raider Gang Wars had ended decades ago, and scavengers had moved onto Zug Island. It was too late for the Brotherhood to turn back so they forced the scavengers out and claimed the island. What the Brotherhood found on Zug Island was beyond their wildest dreams. A steel mill the Scribes were convinced they could restore, sitting on the edge of a city full of scrap. They could forge new steel from the old and use it to rebuild what the Brotherhood had lost: the Calculator and its robot army. Even better was the General Atomics factory on the island, the pre-War robotic company that manufactured the Mr. Handy and the Robobrain, the latter being closest alternative to the unique, brain-powered Calculator. The Brotherhood knew they had made the right call claiming the island and were on their way to accomplishing their goal, despite the protests of the local scavengers. The Scribes' work was slow-going. The Brotherhood had to repair damage from the War and 200 years of decay, and replace parts removed by scavengers. It took almost a year to restore the most basic functions in the factories. Two years after that, they had both General Atomics and Zug Island Steel up and running. The Brotherhood pays local wastelanders to smelt down scrap at Zug Island Steel, but General Atomics, where the Calculator is being rebuilt, is strictly off-limits. While working to rebuild the Calculator, the Head Scribe of the Brotherhood came across something called CODE Conditioning, some brain conditioning program used in the process of brain extraction. The Head Scribe thought it would be vital for constructing a new brain-powered Calculator, so she sent Hannibal Crane and his Cyber Squad to Western Wayne Correctional Facility, a military prison that conditioned brains for General Atomics' Robobrains. Crane was gone for months, but eventually returned with the vital information. After the assassination of the Head Scribe, the Brotherhood Inquisitors were put in control of Zug Island and the Calculator project. Zug Island Steel was the site of a demonstration by local workers, led by Paul Redding. Incomplete Category:Fallout: Detroit Category:Fallout: Detroit Locations Category:Fallout: Detroit Districts